When Odds Are Against You
by bleedingonyx
Summary: My 1st fic so be nice. The Flock is being chased by Flyboys and Erasers nonstop. Max and Fang's relationship grow when they are forced to cooperate. What happens when all odds are against you? Suspense, love, drama, and sometimes things'll get a bit crazy
1. Chapter 1

_**Okay. Let's get this legal stuff out of the way. I do not own Maximum Ride nor do I claim to. I am not affiliated with James Patterson nor do I claim to be. I own none of the characters that are in the book nor do I claim to. I do not own anything but the plot that I make up with these characters right now. This is fan fiction, baby, and I'm lovin' it!**_

Chapter 1

"Max! Watch out!" Angel cried anxiously. I rolled my eyes and opened the closet. Nothing, nada.

"See Angel. Nothing's there. I told you." _You big baby_, I added silently in my head.

"Hey!" she said. "I heard that!" She narrowed her eyes at me. _Love you_, I replied to her in my head. "I love you too Max." She murmured aloud. I gave her a kiss and she crawled into bed. I glanced over at Nudge, who was on the top bunk, silent for once. All that I could see was a small brown tuft of nappy hair sticking out of a mound of blankets. I sighed and I smiled to my self as I shut their door.

The flock and I were sleeping in an abandoned house now. We left Dr. Mom's house 3 days ago and are now bunking here. There are still many crazy Itex scientists out there, but the craziest one seems to want us. Well, me, actually. They wouldn't mind having the flock but the Director kinda made it clear with her, "Get Maximum Ride or you will regret it," statement a while back. That seems like so long ago now. Things are so different in the present. Sometimes I wish we could just go back to Mom's house and stay there with Ella but I know we can't. It's my job to save the world.

Here's how things are working: Nudge and Angel are in the spare bedroom of the house, Iggy and Gazzy are in the main bedroom (Don't ask me how the heck they got the big room.), while me and Fang get the other spare bedroom on the top floor. It was kinda creepy how Nudge and Angel _demanded_ that they have a room together. It was even creepier when Iggy and Gazzy demanded the same. I was getting pretty sick of feeling like the Flock was up to something. I'm sure I was going to find out soon. But for now I'm stuck with good ole moody Fang. I trudged to my room. Well, this was going to be awkward. And I had a feeling that this was only the start. I felt like...all odds were against me.

**Sorry guys! Short chapter! More tomorrow. Um...REVIEW PLEASE!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Sorry it took so long to update! I got the flu. I'm pretty much better now. I hope that this will become a popular story. Um…what am I forgetting….OH! There may be spoilers in here for the first 3 books. I promise not to ruin anything from the 4th just in case you guys haven't gotten a chance to read it. I'll be making up some of the character's powers and stuff like that, okay? Easter's coming so it may take me at the most 3 days to update. I plan to have at least 27 chapters by August. Well….Happy Easter!!**_

Ch. 2

I trudged up the stairs. This was going to be super. I think I might even pray to whoever's up there to give me patience---not strength. If I get anymore strength I'll probably beat him to death.

'_Max, Max, Max, _my Voice scolded_, "Don't talk like that. You know that you love him. When are you going to realize it?" _I stopped dead in my tracks. The urge to deny it crept onto me like an itch I couldn't scratch. Dang, that Voice was soo annoying!

'_I do not_!' I thought back angrily. '_Fang is like a brother to me! I...I don't like him in any other way_.' I stared at one of the dingy walls, not really seeing it. Images of Fang flashed through my head, images of him grinning, frowning, pounding the crap out of an Eraser…of him kissing me. An unstoppable blush crept over my cheeks. No! Bad Max.

'_You have feelings for him It's okay, Max. You're a bit slow but you'll get it eventually. Let's just hope that you get it before it happens.'_

'_That is _soo_ not—WAIT!! _It_? What the heck is _it.' At this point the memories had stopped and I was clenching and unclenching my fists in anger. A lovely image of me bashing the hell out of the Voice slapped an evil grin on my face. That evil grin faded when a zap of pain struck my brain.

'_Maximum!_ _Don't you sass me, I'm more powerful than you'll ever know.' _A flurry of lightning pain erupted in my head and danced around. I clenched my teeth and took deep breaths until it was over. That just pissed me off more. This obviously wasn't Jeb. Not that I could tell by sound or anything, because they both pretty much sounded like male electronic voices. I would love just to sink my fist into this dudes face now…

'_Maximum, listen. I don't want to hurt you but I will if I have to. I want what's best for you. I'm here to help, really.' _The Voice sounded so sickly sincere that I didn't believe it for a second. Not. One. Second. But for now there were more pressing matters at hand besides a psychotic bipolar voice in my head that's threatening me and feeding me lies. Really, there is.

'_You know what? You can help me by telling me what '_it_' is.' _That was my burning question.

'_I'm sorry, Maximum, but I can't tell you just yet. The world is yours to save. You must save it quickly. You seem not to care. Are you so selfish as to let innocent people die? Save it quickly, Maximum, save it quickly.'_

Why does the voice have to be so dang quizzical? It can't just tell me what I need to do. It loves this little game of: Max has life with problems, Voice brings more problems (A.K.A saving the freaking world), Voice tells Max to be careful, and Max gets her butt kicked by Erasers/Flyboys/wild animal (Don't ask about the last one) during surprise attack. This game isn't very fun.

'_SHUT THE HELL UP VOICE! JUST SHUT UP! IT'S NOT MY "DESTINY" TO SAVE THE WORLD. IT'S NOT MY _JOB_, NOT MY PROBLEM. It's not anything but a lie. The world will be fine without me helping. AND MY NAME IS MAX NOT MAXIMUM.' _These little chats with the Voice always seem to raise my blood pressure.

'_But you have your lover Fang to help you, Maximum. You have your flock. Don't worry, as slow as you are to recognize things, I have faith in you. I have no doubt that you'll save the world. Good night, Maximum.' _

"_No! Wait I'm sooo not done with you yet. You did not just freaking mention Fang as my lover! I don't feel that way for him. He may be smoking hot—AHH! _No, no, no.I can't think about Fang like that. If I liked him in anyway besides a friend, it could permanently screw up our relationship. What would I do without him?

I let my anger fizzle out and I regained focus. The wall came back into view. I realized that I must have looked like a complete idiot, standing there zoning out. I sighed and put a foot forward to start my walk down the short hallway to the room. I froze mid-step. Something was off. I snapped my head and up and was met with a pair of dark brown eyes that pierced the soul. Fang. A smirk warmed his face. I flushed. Had he just seen that? Oh, God. This was a great way to start off the night. Not.

**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! How's Max's night with Fang going to go? Is it going to spark, or is it going to fizzle? Is Max finally going to admit her feelings to herself? And will that dang voice tell Max what the heck is going on? You'll find out as the story continues. More to come soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much for reviewing!! I'm happy…… Well, here you go.**

**Oh, and there will be swearing in the chapters from here on in. Just to forewarn you.**

**Ch. 3**

**MAXPOV**

My heart fluttered at Fang's intense gaze. We just stared at each other in the dead silence. No emotion played on his face. The dark depths of his eyes made me want to grab him and k--. My thoughts cut off.

A slow smirk spread across his face. Laughter and mocking shone through his eyes; He shook his head slowly and gave a snort. Without a word, he turned and walked down the hall and into our room. My thoughts regrouped with a vengeance. –KILL HIM!! I wanted to grab his big freaking head and kill him. I tried not to think about what I was about to say besides kill. .I stood in the hallway, blushing like mad and staring angrily at the closed door to our room. With a loud sigh I let all of my anger from the day pass through me. I picked my feet up in defeat and started to walk towards my room. "You stupid people are going to give me a frickin' aneurysm. One day, I'm gonna wake up dead because of people like Fang and Voice." I said the two names louder than the rest of the sentence. I heard a loud giggle from downstairs and dismissed it as Angel and Nudge being hyper.

I was too tired to deal with them right now. This whole nonsense with Fang was wearing me out. But why should it? Fang was my best-friend in the entire world, not my b—boy-boyfriend. My mind stuttered over the word. Oh God, what's wrong with me? The door was 3 inches from me by now. This was my time to decide. Deal with Fang no matter what kind of feelings I experience, or sleep on the floor downstairs? My hand rested on the metal handle. I weighed my options. If I accidentally said something stupid and completely untrue, something along the lines of…I love you, then that could screw up our entire relationship forever. Without Fang, I didn't know if I could take it if I didn't have Fang. My other option was to sleep downstairs. Sleeping on floor=backache = limitation of movements tomorrow = possibly broken bones/cuts/bruises/all together hurt if Flyboys/ Erasers attack. Ok, maybe I could change something up to make this work. I tried again. Sleeping on the floor=Fang becoming suspicious=multiply bad endings. I can last this one night with Fang. I made my decision. I'm the indestructible Maximum Ride. I turned the doorknob. It pushed back at me. It was locked.

**FANGPOV**

I sat in the room alone. Max was supposed to be coming upstairs after she said goodnight, right? I looked at the clock. The numbers flashed 9:45. Tonight was a late night for the kids. I waited patiently for Max to come, sitting on the desk against the far corner. What was it going to be like sharing a room with Max? It's been so long since we shared a room together. Usually, I have to share the room with the entire Flock if I want to share a room with her. But this time she was mine. A goofy grin slid onto my face. I wiped it off immediately just incase she walked in but continued to think.

My feelings for Max have grown strong and it's been hard for me to sustain our friendship. I have no clue how she feels about me but I do know how I feel about her. She's amazing, a dream come true. Her smiles and laughter make my breath hitch and I always wish that I could be apart of her joy. Instead I always stand on the sidelines. I hate it. I wasn't going to standby and watch her anymore. I was so sick off other guys looking at her like she was a piece of meat. I wanted her to be mine so I could have the right to glare back at them and show my jealousy.

I was happy when I overheard the rest of the Flock talking last week when we still at Dr. Martinez's house.

_Flashback_

_Iggy, Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge were huddled in Ella's room with the door closed speaking in hushed voices._

_Angel's voice timidly rose above the others. "Guys, wait! How about this: We get Max and Fang to share a room together. That will surely push them together." I was shocked. The rest of the Flock voiced there approval and the tension eased._

"_You guys see the way he looks at her though, there's no denying it. This is for the best. It's so obvious that they're crazy about each other. Plus, they'd make a cute couple," Nudge said. Everyone agreed. Was I really that obvious?_

"_All right guys," Iggy said. "Max should be home soon. It takes, what, about fifteen minutes to go to the store for cookie dough? We don't have much time. Let's break this up before someone finds out. Operation: Get Max and Fang Together starts today." He grinned. I was feeling bold so I opened the door and took a step in. I crossed my arms over my chest and raised my eyebrows at them when they turned around. Angel gasped and Nudge yelped. Gazzy looked shocked and Iggy looked confused. "What happened? Can someone please fill me in? I'm not Superman, I don't know everything but it does kinda sound like….oh. Fang?"_

_I replied with a simple, "Yeah, Igs." He had a look of stark horror. I smirked._

"_Di-did you hear all that?" Iggy stuttered. I nodded, but then realized that I'd wasted it on him._

"_Yup," I replied popping the "p". Everyone was staring at me like they were about to crap their pants. It was hysterical. I cleared my throat._

_I felt a faint blush on my cheeks. I couldn't believe that I was about to say this. "Um, yeah, guys I really do like her. A lot. Just keep it on the down-low though please." I turned to hide my red face and left the room. I could hear Angel and Nudge squealing as I went upstairs._

_(End Flashback)_

A frustrated grunt broke me out of my thoughts. Worry slammed into me. I glanced at the clock. 10:05. it had been twenty minutes since I first checked. I hopped off the desk and ran into the hallway. Max stood there, staring at the wall. I froze. Her blonde hair framed her face and made it glow. Her stormy blue eyes were unfocused and unhappy. To sum it up she looked like a pissed-off angel from my dreams. I stood there staring blankly at her. Her forehead creased and she clenched her teeth. Oh god, whoever she was talking to was getting a mouthful of her. I almost smiled.

She sighed deeply and her eyes came back into focus. She didn't seem to see me, so I wasn't going say anything. I wanted to look at her for a few more moments. When she did look up she was in shock. Her face flushed and her eyes became bright. She looked more beautiful than ever then. I stifled a chuckle at her bewildered expression and shook my head in disdain. It was completely hysterical how she could stand there and zone off and not realize it. I guess that's why I loved her. I turned around and walked back to our room.

Once I was inside, I locked the door. I heard her murmur something low. I caught the words "aneurysm" and "dead" from her drabble. This was going to be fun. It took forever for her to finally try to get in though. She wiggled the door knob a few times and I could just feel her fuming. She pounded on the door and yelled, "Fang!! Open the damn door right this freaking minute!" I smiled.

"Nope." There was no turning back now. This was going to be like fighting a bull but I was ready for it. Maybe it would give me the courage to tell her that I loved her. I heard her sigh and mumble something incoherent. Seconds later she was at the window, cranking it open. I went to the window to help her, disappointed that the match was over before it began. She wasn't expecting my help. Max was fumbling with her wings trying to get them down enough to slide in.

She looked at me when I touched her arm. I looked at her and saw that she knew what I was thinking. Three seconds later she folded her wings in and let me pull her through the window. What she didn't realize was how hard I was going to pull. She pushed off and I pulled. We both landed on the floor, Max on top. '_Well, that was an accident, but it worked out great_!' I thought to myself. I felt her breath on my neck and her body over mine. It took me a moment to figure out what happened but I seemed to have realized it before she did. I knew that she would blush so hard when she observed that she was on top of me. I couldn't wait to see the crimson stain on her cheeks that lit up her entire face.

Max looked down at me, horrified. I could tell that she was stumbling for words. Instead of speaking, she quickly got off of me and went to the closet. She kept her head turned away. "Sorry," she muttered sheepishly. Something lay underneath her tone. I could tell. Max was an open book.

"What's wrong? " I asked, shrugging off her apology. She still faced the closet, sorting through clothes that were already sorted. She was nervous about something. Feeling her tenseness and discomfort made me want to wrap my arms around her. You know what? Tonight I would. Tonight was the night that I was going to tell Max that I loved her. Maybe I would even get my way…if I were lucky.

**So? Like it? REVIEW AND TELL ME!! Sorry that I went a little crazy with Fang's POV. I couldn't help it. So….Is Fang really going to tell Max he loves her, or is he just faking himself out? What is Max so nervous/disturbed about? What were Angel and Nudge doing downstairs? Will that gosh darn Voice return? Read the upcoming chapters to find out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey!! Sorry for the long wait! I swear that I have a good excuse! I went to South Africa! sigh All right…Let's do this. **

**P.s.--Oh my God! I'm making a new story. It's a Twilight Fanfic. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE VOTE IN MY POLL ON MY PROFILE PAGE!! I would love to start writing it, but I am kinda stuck. I would appreciate it so much if you help me decide. Thanks! Now, the thing you want most….**

MAX POV

"Fang open the damn door!" I was pissed. So pissed.

"Nope." Came Fang's smug reply from inside the room.

Screw this, I thought. I have _wings_, you know! I walked to the attic that was located around the corner and up a flight of stairs. The window was big enough for me to climb through. But first, I took a glance around out of habit.

The room was a bit dusty and crusty, but it was definitely beautiful in an old-fashioned kind of way. For some reason, I had always liked antiques and history. History was even one of my favorite classes when I went to school.

There were some old boxes in the corner covered with dust and partially hidden from sight, like someone was trying to hide them, but was in a hurry. If I ever had time, I had to remember to check the boxes out. Who knew how soon we were going to leave again? Something about them drew me to it. A historic, rusty bed was placed in the corner and a lamp stood next to it. A mahogany desk sat heavily in the opposite corner with all of the drawers locked tight. This room was fascinating to me. This would be my new hideout.

I ran to the window, flung it open and leaped out. Freedom at last. I unfurled my wings and reveled in the sweet surrender of the air sliding over them. I flew over to our room and fiddled with the window. It was very difficult, considering the whole, wing factor. Fang was there instantly. I looked into his eyes.

His eyes held the note of serious that he carried at all times, but there was something else. I didn't want to examine it any further. I gave a strong push on the window. Fang understood what I was trying to do. I stared into Fang's brown eyes and gave a little 1, 2, 3, in my head and shoved on the window. Little did I know how well Fang had understood my planned actions. He pulled as I pushed. I went flying through the air and landed on top of him.

I was in a daze for a couple of long seconds. What was the warm, comfortable thing underneath me? It smelled amazingly good and welcoming. My insides turned to mush. I wanted to lie there forever…until my sense came back.

I picked myself up off of Fang without a word. How could I explain that to him? It was so…sexual. Our bodies together, front to front like that. I couldn't think these things about Fang, my _best friend_. I didn't even know it was him. But the way I responded…that wouldn't have ever happened if I knew that it was Fang, would it? No. Never! I walked over to the closet and began sorting some random clothes, an involuntary blush settled over my cheeks. I hoped that this time was an exception to Fang's little _gift_ of reading me like an open book. Please God, please….

"What's wrong?" Nope. Act normal Max, act normal.

"Nothing." Was my simple and easy reply. He didn't buy it. Damn stubborn little empath.

"Max?" Fang's voice was concerned. "Max, did you get hurt when you fell?"

Immediately I responded the way I knew best. Sarcasm. "Yupperoni, five shatter bones in my stomach 'cuz your bony little butt did nothing to help cushion my fall. Honestly, Fang, what are you, anorexic?" Fang was anything but skinny. He was, how should I put this without straying into something that I didn't want to think about? He was very nicely muscular and we both knew that. Very nicely.

He gave a smirk and rolled his eyes. "What can I say, I have a lot of bone? What would you like me to do about it? Next time I'll let the very cushy _carpet_ catch your fall," he retorted. Humor shone I his eyes. I was temporarily off the hook about the blush.

Fang turned away to close the window that was flapping gently in the breeze. I took this time to glare at the gigantic bed in the middle of the room. I hate you, I thought silently to it. Fang and I needed to make a sleeping arrangement. I cleared my throat. Fang glanced over at me from the windowsill. (I guess he wasn't closing it to be helpful. He just wanted to feel the cool night breeze. He had better shut that window when's he's done...)

Let's be blunt… "You taking the floor?" His face was stony and showed nothing. He walked toward me like he had something to say. I could almost make out…determination?...in his eyes. He reached a hand out to me and gently tucked a stay piece of heir out of my eyes befor he leaned in close to my face, hot breath fanning across my cheek--

"I got the bed," he whispered almost seductively. He threw himself backwards onto the bed with a resounding "thud". I scoffed and hid my blush. For a second there I thought that he was going to…well, he looked like he wanted to…kiss me. Did he? Nah, tjis was Fang we were talking about. This was the same Fang who I used to sit on the river bank with and see how could spit the farthest into the river. No way could anything happen like that to us.

He stretched out on the bed like a large cat. A small smile was playing on his lips. He didn't look like he'd be getting up anytime soon.

"Fang! Get off the goddamn bed!" I bit out. He looked up at me.

"You asked who if I was taking the floor. I thought that it was my liberty to answer you incorrect assumption."

"When I asked if you were taking the floor, I wasn't really asking. I was telling. Now get off the bed. Now." He didn't move an inch. He just stared at me impassively.

I sighed. I was too tired to wrestle him out of the bed. I would do it after I got ready for bed, so I could use the last of my energy on something more useful. "Whatever. I'm going to go take a shower and get ready for bed. When I come back, you better be gone." He snorted, so I continued. "Notice how I said _bed. _I'm going to get ready for bed. You can go get ready for floor, because that is where, my friend, you will be sleeping tonight." He cracked a smile at me and chuckled at me words. My heart sputtered pathetically. I loved his smiles. They were something to look forward to. He never smiled often, but when he did, it lit up the room. I was going to put it on myself to make him smile like that more often. I turned from him and walked out of the room.

I headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I stepped in the shower a couple of moments later. The water felt great against my tired body. Minutes later, I stepped out of the hot spray, more tired then before. I slid on my David and Goliath Heavy Metal blue and black pajamas. They had black sleeves and a light blue center for the top. The words "heavy metal" were printed on the fabric. The pants were black and had cute little robots and star constellations on them.

I went to walk out of the bathroom and back to Fang, but paused.

I felt really self conscious. I turned and looked into the mirror at my pj's. I straightened them and tried to pull them so that they look flattering. I had a very athletic body, so I wasn't a size 00. I was a size 3. I would be a size 0 if those damn Erasers didn't keep coming back and making me beat the shit out of them. Then I wouldn't be some big, old, macho-woman. I also knew that I could be 100 times worse off. I wasn't fat. Not at all. Actually, it was against my species to be heavy. It was in my DNA that I had to be thin. It was some crazy avian hybrid thingy. Who knows?

But, I had never been self-conscious before. So why was I now? I brushed it off and padded back to my room.

Fang was still being an idiot, sprawled out on the bed in the same exact position. The only thing that changed was his clothes. He was wearing a faded black T-shirt that had the words, 'Tell your mom that I said thanks," printed on it (He and Iggy saw this shirt and demanded that I buy it for them. They each have on in different colors. Well, not a colors, more like color, because Fang prefers to wear black but…whatever) and a pair of black sleep pants with grey stripes on them.

The pants had something written on the waistband so small that I had to struggle to see it. I squinted. The letters slowly, one by one, cleared. Stand Clear 300 Feet.

I let out a laugh, but it slowly turned to embarrassment as I realized the situation that I had just put myself in.

I was basically standing there, staring at his crotch-vicinity trying to figure out the words on his waist band. I was afraid to, but I gathered enough courage. I lifted my head and looked Fang in the eyes.

To my surprise, a light blush dusted his cheeks. Oh my god! I screamed in my head! I'm such a friggin' idiot. My God! That was so inappropriate! Let's just forget about it, Max. Brush it off.

I cleared my throat and attempted to act like I didn't just visually molest my best friend. "You're still in the bed, I see." I was shocked to find that my voice was a little bit husky. I cleared my throat again, embarrassed by the suspicious feelings that were startubg to feel a lot like…_love._

He rolled over and slid under the covers. "I think I'll just stay here tonight. We are adults and we sac control ourselves, right, Max?" I didn't have to see his face to know that there was a smug smirk on it.

"There is no way in hell that…" I trailed off. It was way too late for this. I looked over at the clock. It was already past midnight. "Scoot over," sighed.

"Sure," he said. He slid over a bit. I laid down on the bed and got under the covers. I placed a pillow between our bodies.

The funny thing was that, sure, there was a pillow separating our bodies, but not our hearts. I wasn't so sure I was ready for this realization. I hoped that I wouldn't remember it in the morning.

I was just starting to drift when Fang called my name. "Hey, Max." His voice sounded uncomfortable. I groaned and shoved some covers his way, figuring that he was complaining about me being a blanket hog. (Which, truthfully, I was.)

"Yeah?" I muttered drowsily. What the hell did he want?

The silence stretched. I began to nod off, assuming that he was asleep.

He started to say something to me, but it sounded like mush to my sleep-heavy ears. The last thing I caught before sweet sleep kissed my lids was something that sounded like, "This is just my luck…"

**How did you like it? REVIEW AND TELL ME!! AND REMEMBER: VOTE IN MY POLL ON MY PROFILE PLEASE!! If I get 10 votes, I'll update again within 5 days. That's a good bribe, huh? C'mon guys!! Anyway. Max is denying her feelings for Fang, will that change? Fang still hasn't told Max his feelings for her, will he ever get to? What about those boxes in the attic? What plan is the Flock minus Max and Fang cooking up? And it's too quiet...WHERE ARE THE ERASERS? Read the next chapter to find out. REVIEW & VOTE!**


	5. Chapter 5

THIS IS A SHORT CHAPTER!! SORRY!

**THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS!! MORE PLEASE!! VOTE IN MY POLL!! PLEASE!! IT'S A POTENTIAL TWILIGHT FANFIC!! CHECK IT OUT TWILIGHT LOVERS!! Here you go…you guys have earned it.**

XD I'm debating on what the title should be. Fang's Dream, maybe? Endlessly Dreaming? I don't know. Help me out!! (P.S. I will make chapter names before the story is complete!)

--

**FANGPOV**

My dreams were…cryptic. They went from pleasurable to nightmare and back again.

What the hell? Were they even dreams at all? They surely didn't feel like dreams.

First, flashes of Max came into view. She was happy, shockingly so. She was staring straight ahead. I saw myself come into view. I was wearing a pair of black jeans and a raggedy grey t-shirt. Max was dressed similarly.

She turned her eyes up to me. Er, well, the other me. Her face was warm and her eyes were filled with…holy shit. _Love._

This _must_ be a dream then. I felt a small smile curl onto my lips. Just a small one. "We" stood there, right outside the cabin, staring into each others eyes. Then, "I" kissed her. She kissed me back.

At this moment I didn't want to wake up. I liked what I was seeing. This was something I was hoping I had the balls to do in real life.

It wasn't until the next moment that I wanted to wake up. The vision of me kissing Max vanished into mist and was replaced with a new one.

Max running. As fast as she could. Tears were streaking down her face.

She called my name over and over but I never came. I didn't recognize where she was. Suddenly, hands out of nowhere grabbed her. I tried to see the person's face, but it wasn't there.

It just wasn't there, _Nothing _was there. But clearly, something was hurting Max.

Blood was spewing from her face, her arms, her nose. She screamed over and over as she was beaten by the invisible person.

The image cracked and phased into another one. Max was running again, but this time she was in a bathing suit. She jumped and splashed into a pool. Although her motions were exuberant, her eyes looked…I couldn't describe it. They looked broken. Shattered completely. That's when I noticed the scars on her arms. Her arms were brutally battered. It made me wince. Were those…I stopped my thoughts from heading in that direction.

Where was she? Where was I? Suddenly, Nudge came out of nowhere and cannon-balled into the water, her nappy head disappearing from view. Next was Iggy. He had heard the splash and followed it. He cautiously jumped in.

Gazzy appeared on the small diving board. He did a strong belly-flop into the chlorinated water. Iggy started to crack up and gave Gazzy a high five. The Flock seemed to be here, but where was I? I mean, _me_. This was confusing. Anyway, where was Angel?

Again, the image melted away. This time the images flew by at what seemed like 100 miles per hour. It made my eyes hurt almost unbearably.

I tried to decipher the strange, seemingly random pictures racing in my brain: A clock reading 6:30, a razor, a skydiver, a wildfire, a brutal storm, the School, and lastly, something amazing.

The images stopped pelting my brain and settled on this particular one. A pair of hands was stretched out in front of their body. The hands were arranged into a strange symbol. Abruptly, a glowing purple orb appeared into their hands. The ball paused a few seconds before flying into the sky.

Suddenly, the Heavens went dark. The sky was stormy and black. It glared threateningly down at me.

There have been numerous times that I've been scared in my life, I'll admit. This was another one. It looked like an apocalypse. The sky _didn't look natural_. That orb must have done something to it. I was just getting around to trying to think about what it had done when the image melted away.

The next image frightened me equally as much if not more. It chilled me to the bone and made my heart stop.

The next image was a graveyard. The graveyard was in the middle of some forgotten city—or should I say—what was left of a city.

Buildings were burned into ashes with only the metal frames remaining. The grass was long and overgrown, harvesting bugs. Litter trashed the ground. (A.N. No pun intended!- Ouch!-lol)

All of this was very disturbing, but not as disturbing as the graveyard. I drew my eyes back to it.

The graveyard was big. No, big wasn't the right word for it. It was _massive_. Thousands and thousands of rows of graves were there. Yet, this _still _wasn't the most horrible part of this nightmare.

I looked down at the grave closest to me. It read, '_Here lies Maximum Ride. Greatly loved, greatly cherished, and forever in our hearts. We never got to tell you how much we loved you. You will never be forgotten.' _

Max was dead.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

**--**

**DON'T HATE ME!! I'M SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER!! SO SORRY! I'LL UPDATE EXTRA FAST! REVIEW!! I have an idea for Chapter 6, so I'm ready to start typing. Hey…if you give me 26 reviews and 5 more votes in my poll on my profile, I'll update within this week. C'mon, guys! YOU LOVE ME!!**

**What do these dreams mean? Is Fang getting a new power to see the future? Or has he had too much soda and too many late nights? Who was the invisible person? Who sent the orb to the sky? Now the ultimate question: WILL FANG CONFESS HIS LOVE LIKE HE DID IN HIS DREAM?? Read the next chapter to find out.**


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N.- Just to let you know…_

_**Max is 16. Fang is 16. Iggy is 16. Nudge is 15. Gazzy is 10. Angel is 8. I upped everyone's ages. Also, I'm going to be introducing some new characters soon…**_

_**Thanks for reviewing! REVIEW MORE!! If I make my chapters longer, will you guys review more? PLEASE? I'm sorry this took this long. I went on a yacht!! Oh my god! It was amazing.**_

--

Relapse_: I looked down at the grave closest to me. It read, 'Here lies Maximum Ride. Greatly loved, greatly cherished, and forever in our hearts. We never got to tell you how much we loved you. You will never be forgotten.' _

_Max was dead._

_Holy. Fucking. Shit. _

_--_

**Chapter Six**

**Fang POV**

"Shit!" I whispered. My eyes snapped open. My heart was thundering and adrenaline raced through my veins. I had to get up. _I had to save Max_!

Something nuzzled my neck. I tensed, ready to throw it to the ground and defend myself. I looked down at it.

Oh, it was Max. I breathed a sigh of relief. Wait! Max? Max was lying in my arms? "This must be a dream," I croaked out loud pitifully as the realization dawned on me. "Oh, god. Please let me wake up; please just let me—OW." I cut off as Max kicked my leg in her sleep.

Okay. Scratch that. Maybe I wasn't asleep. But that would mean that…Max was in my arms. She wasn't dead. Thank God. I have never been much of a religious guy, but seriously Old Man, thanks.

I looked down at Max. She was so warm, so soft. Her blonde hair was lightly brushed into her face. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. A pang of despair hit me to think that I could ever lose her.

What kind of dream was that? I shouldn't say dream. I should say nightmare, but that's not the point. It all felt so real.

All of this morbid thinking was ruining my moment with Max. For once, I was just happy to ignore the other stuff that was tarnishing my mind. Max could do that to me, you know. (Not that I had the balls to tell her though, so…)

I closed my eyes and let my thoughts take me.

Jesus…imagine her face when she wakes up. I have three choices, I thought to myself:

_One__: Be selfish: Keep her in your arms until she wakes up. This situation will surely embarrass her. Maintain your maximum (A/N: No pun intended! Sorry my fellow readers, I couldn't resist.) joy while hers drops to none._

_Two__: Be selfish AND witty. Some may call it mean. Start a word sparring match. Embarrass and tease her about it all day._

_Three__: Be pleasant. Keep her in your arms because you're a naturally selfish fucking being, Fang, but pretend to be asleep or something, so you don't make her uncomfortable. Plus, it would be interesting to see how she reacts to being so close to your sexymanlybeast-self….okay, Fang, admit it. You're an arrogant bastard.-I can't believe that you're so fuc—_

I snapped out of my thoughts. Something warm touched my face.

I opened my eyes a sliver. Max's gorgeous brown ones were staring at my face intently. An indescribable emotion was flickering in her features.

Her hand was outstretched toward me. Her fingertips were gently tracing the planes of my face. I tried not to shiver beneath her soft caress. She was trying not to wake me, I could tell. Now was the time for my final decision. Option one, two, or three?

Three. The look in her eye swept all my selfish feelings away. I just wanted to protect her. I just needed to protect her.

Max sighed and turned and looked over at the clock. I took this as a chance to open my eyes again.

She was even more beautiful than ever in that moment. Of course, this was how I saw her all of the time, but again, not the point.

The sun from the open window (yes, the one I was supposed to close last night) shone down on her. Her hair slid over into her face, partially covering it and making her hair shimmer and sparkle in the rays. Her brown eyes lightened a shade or two, making them impossibly irresistible. The light poured over her face and made her seem like my angel from heaven. In that moment, I would give anything to be able to love her.

I know, I know, the thought was way overly mushy. I mean, I realize, I'm not the best with emotion. I have a strange void when it comes to them, but with Max, I feel them. I feel them so strong. She makes me want to smile, laugh, cry, kick the shit out of an Eraser, play a prank on Iggy…she makes me believe that I can do anything. That's probably why I fell in love with her.

She made a move to get out of my arms. I reluctantly released her. _Damn_, I thought. _She's leaving already?_

Then, she did the most pleasantly surprising thing. She leaned down over my face, which by now, my eyes were closed and my breathing feigned sleeping. Her hair was silky against my cheek and she smelled like vanilla. She came closer and closer to my lips, her breathing fanning over my face. She pressed an almost nonexistent kiss to my cheek.

I almost died of shock. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, I repeated over and over in my brain. Max just kissed me!

I wanted to suddenly "wake up" and grab her by the shoulders and kiss her like she was a chocolate bar and I was a PMS-ing teenage girl who finally got her hands on it. (Which I'm not! It was just a figure of speech! You fucking imbeciles.) **A/N- Holy crap, he doesn't mean that! We love you, readers, and we want you to continue reading our story! So basically, ignore him please, he's just pissed 'cuz he can't get it right with Max. I could fix that…evil laugh**

Max stood up and walked away, her light foot steps padding to the bathroom down the hall. I glanced at the clock again. Crap, it was really early. No wonder Nudge, Angel, and Total didn't come and wake us up. It was 4:40 in the morning. They usually don't attempt to get us until at least 7:30.

I groaned and rolled over in the bed. Time to get up! Yipee-fucking-doodah! Today we were going to scope the town. You know, the regular. Buy some clothes, food, shoes, etc. I'm more into exploring the property here, I guess. Besides, I get pissed at all the guys that ogle Max while we're out. It's revolting! What right do they have? Then again, what right do I have?

I struggled to get out of bed. Finally, with my eyes barely open, I swung my bottom half over the end of the bed and let my momentum carry me…right into a chair. I didn't even see it there. I just sort of…I don't know. Blinked, maybe? It's a mystery.

"Shit," I moaned. The chair had hit me right in the stomach. The tips of the chair were like metal and spiky. If I were a regular human, I probably would have ruptured something. But, I was, for once _fortunately_, not normal.

I stood there, doubled over, trying not to puke. _Ugh_. I had eaten _way_ too much last night. A quiet snort of laughter pulled me away from my sickness.

Max stood there in the doorway with her hand covering her mouth, eyes bright with laughter. She had seen that? Shit, shit, shit. I tried to regain my dignity.

As soon as I stood I felt better. Not only did the nausea ease, but I felt more confident. I towered over Max. I was a good 6 feet already at the age of 16**. A/N- I'm sorry for interrupting the story again, but, yeah, the ages of everyone are older. Scroll all the way up to the top to see. **Max was on the taller side, but she still had nothing on me.

I slid my eyes over to her. She was still standing there, cracking up. I narrowed my eyes to slits. I took a threatening step towards her. That made her look up. She didn't look scared. Damn. I'm losing my touch. It did, however, get her to stop laughing, which suited me fine.

I relaxed my stance and just stared at her. Her eyes were a little darker today, almost like they foresaw what happened in my dream. Or, like they could sense the danger that even I had yet to realize.

**A/N- I know, I know, I swear no more author's notes, but I just wanted to say: Yay to the long chapter!!**

--

**MAXPOV**

I stepped out of the shower refreshed. _Not_. I was still tired as hell, my neck was sore from falling asleep on that pillow—that I must say was as hard as a friggin' rock, and my blonde hair stuck to my forehead ungratefully. But I didn't care. There were more pressing matters at hand.

I fucking kissed Fang this morning! I didn't even mean to. I was so out of it, I couldn't control myself at all. I still wasn't in it to this second, but I was working on that.

I could tell that last night I had a nightmare. I don't know what it was about, but it felt horrible. My head is still pounding and my heart is racing, so it must've been pretty bad. I wish I could remember…

I sighed and got dressed. I brushed my hair out so it was pin straight and blow-dried it. Which took for frickin' ever because I didn't want to wake the rest of the Flock up. Especially Fang.

Fang looked beautiful in his sleep. I've never been one to think that a guy could be beautiful, but if it was possible, Fang would be. His emotional barriers were down and he looked so serene.

For once, he looked something more than reserved. Although he is my best friend I don't get to see many different sides of him. I'm sure that I get to see more sides than anyone else, but I'm greedy, and I want all of his sides.

I traveled back to my room silently. Fang was now sitting ramrod straight up in the bed. Odd…Suddenly he lurched forward. I stared blankly at him as he smashed his stomach into the pointy metal chair next to the bed. I don't think he did that on purpose. Ouch, that looked like it hurt. I stared at him vacantly thinking, _He did not just do that._

I burst out laughing. Fang was hunched over and turning green. I tried to stifle the giggles with my hand, but it was pointless. It was just so_ freaking funny_.

I was too busy laughing my ass off to notice Fang straightening up and approaching me murderously. I guess he doesn't like to be laughed at…

He looked at me threateningly. I wasn't impressed. I was trying my hardest not to yawn actually. I didn't know if he could tell though.

I stopped laughing as I noticed something particularly wonderful._ Damn, he's tall_, I thought. I like tall men.

I could feel my inside melting. This time, I was way too tired to even care. My mind was on overdrive. I didn't like where this was going. I had no control over myself.

I was itching to lean in a little and…DAMMIT! NO BAD MAX! I sighed on the inside. By now, Fang had given up trying to intimidate me. We were staring at each other, standing toe to toe. None of us moved.

He was staring at me intently. I stared back. He looked like he was having an internal war.

My stomach rolled suspiciously and my head started to buzz. I got a feeling that something was going to happen. It made my already racing heart sky rocket.

I couldn't really tell the reason for these reactions. Something in my head was telling me something important.

I didn't have a second to discern what was happening with my senses before my body was pulled tight against Fang's. His muscles were hard in contrast to my softer ones.

I have to admit, I did swoon.

I lifted my face to look at him. His eyes were clear, decisive. My mind was fuzzy at this point, so I wasn't strong enough to resist my attraction for him.

His warm breath blew in my face. He smelled wonderful. I was intoxicated by it. I was becoming addicted to each of his breaths. I never wanted to feel their absence. There was no Max without Fang. He was my rock, my friend…and my _love_.

His lips were warm against mine. They moved softly over mine, begging for acceptance, for redemption, for my heart. I hated to admit it, but he already had all of those in my eyes.

His hands were on my hips, making my skin heat. My hands were in his black hair. I could feel his warmth seeping into me from every direction. I meant there was so _much _of him.

The kiss seemed to last forever. It was the best kiss I'd ever shared with anyone, even Sam. It was magical. It made my head stop aching and my heart stop pounding and my stomach stopping churning awkwardly.

He fixed me. At least temporarily.

The kiss was getting hotter and hotter. We were both putting our hearts and souls into it. All of our hidden love was being extracted and pushed into this kiss. For once, that little voice in the back of my head wasn't saying anything. And I never wanted this moment to end.

Unfortunately, it was me we were talking about here. I am not lucky.

Total burst through the door, grumpy and half asleep. I gasped into Fang's mouth and jumped away. He let out a low moan and tensed. Were we caught? Was this my lucky day? Oh god, I hoped so.

--

-

-

-

**Cliffy!! There! HA! I finally finished! This is my longest chapter! Barely, but it's good enough. Vote in my poll. Just so you know, even if I start the twilight one, I won't stop this one. I won't, I promise. ATTENTION: I might be going on a trip to Canada for 3 days next week. I will try to maintain my writing schedule, but if I'm a little late don't be pissed. Thanks. That's all.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! Canada was amazing! Niagara Falls was beautiful! I'm so glad I went! Anyway, here's the chapter. I hauled ass, so YOU BETTER REVIEW! Here ya' go, peeps! I haven't proof-read. Sorry. OC's are introduced in this chapter. Review and tell me how you like them. (I based Jillian a little bit on my friend. We look alike, so don't be like: Oh that conceited, arrogant biotch only thinks about herself or something like that.)  
**

Chapter 7

--

**Fang POV**

Max's lips were on mine and time seemed to stop. My entire body tingled and pleasantly prickled. A spot in my brain seemed to open. I hadn't even known that it had been blocked. Hell, I hadn't even known I had a spot in my mind. Maybe it was a power… I was too preoccupied to care at that point.

I was just getting into it when Max threw herself away from me. I felt a terrible ripping in the spot in my brain. What the hell? That was not normal. But, when was I ever normal?

Max was breathing hard and staring at the doorway. Oh shit. Total stood there, silent as ever, staring into Max's eyes. Did he just see that? We were having a moment! I had actually thought that I was breaking her down! She was giving in! FUCK! _God damn dog_…

At least the other times I had kissed Max, we had been alone. It was going to be even _more_ embarrassing now that Total would be here to hear her tell me off. It was bad enough in private.

I looked over at Max who was blushing scarlet. I opened my mouth to say something—anything to break the silence when Total simply keeled over.

I looked over at Max. We held each others eyes for a moment before bursting out laughing. It was hysterical. Total was now laying limply on the ground, legs stiff, mouth opened with his pink tongue on the floor. I was too angry on the inside to care enough to check if he was dead. I didn't think he was but there was the possibility.

We laughed and laughed. We were laughing away the tension and the anger of our situation. And we didn't stop laughing until we heard the resounding "thump, thump, thump, thump, pad, pad, pad, pad" of two people coming up the stairs.

Angel stood in the doorway with Nudge. "Total what's going—" She cut off, gasping. "OH MY GOD, TOTAL, WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT'S WRONG?" she screeched. I winced slightly at her piercing tone. Eight-year-old girls suck. Especially when they're screeching. Now, normally Angel was an exception, but damn did this kid have a pair of lungs on her.

Angel poked and prodded at the dog. She looked up at Max with tears in her eyes. "Max, is…is he _dead_?" she asked. Her voice broke on the last word.

"No, honey," she said sympathetically, apologetically. "He's alive, baby. Don't worry." Although she sounded remorseful, I knew her better than that. I could sense the begrudging tone in her voice. She was pissed at him too. That was good. That was very good…

--

**MAX POV**

Angel looked up at me with tears in her eyes. Oh, crap. "Max…is…is he _dead_?" Her voice broke pitifully at the end. It was breaking my infuriated heart. Although I was pissed, I couldn't let my Angel be hurt like that.

'_Pissed about what, Max_?' Angel asked stealthily in my head, picking up on the one thing I really didn't want to share. Damn!

I changed the subject artfully. '_Angel—what did you just say? I know you didn't just say what I think you said_,' I scorned. I was playing the parental card.

'_I'm so sorry, Max, I didn't mean it_!' The horror in her voice was sincere. She was eight after all; she didn't really want to swear. Unlike Gazzy…

"No, Honey," I cooed warmly. "He's alive, baby. Don't worry."

Although I was gently trying to comfort her semi-innocent mind (Yes, only semi. She's seen more gory shit than you could imagine.), I was feeling sour on the inside. I just wanted to go back to Fang and kiss him senseless. Right now, my heart was erupting. It was driving me insane. It didn't feel natural. It felt magical.

My body—my soul wanted to kiss Fang. Which, I hate to admit, my heart was agreeing with them. These sudden feelings for Fang that I had…I don't think they were so sudden.

I glanced over at Fang who was watching me from the corner of his eye. He was giving me a How-do-you-want-to-go-about-this?" look.

It was funny really. I mean, how Fang always knew what I was thinking. He was always ready to take commands from me, to make the situation better for us all. I sighed mentally. The kiss we had shared had brought up some well-hidden feelings that I had denied for so long. It was like a dam broke inside my mind. It was like all of the refused feelings were pent-up until breaking point. And that's what it was. A breaking point. I could no longer deny my feelings for Fang. I was irrevocably, irrefutably, undeniably madly in love with Fang.

Now, what was a girl to do about it?

--

**JILLIAN POV**

**(A/N: CUTTING WARNING. Nothing too gruesome though, so relax.)**

_She walks a line into her deathbed rings_

_I say she's all alone_

_Begging for forgiveness_

_I won't teach her to lie or make a plan_

_That clairvoyant stare and grin_

_God won't forgive me for this I know_

She was sure she could not be redeemed. She was sure she was going to hell. For what she did…that was…unforgivable.

_Tragedy unfolds tonight_

_As I sever my skin apart_

_Now take this sadness and close your, love._

The song blasted from the iHome sitting next to a girl cloaked in darkness. Her light sweet voice glided over the notes. Her voice wasn't anything like her mind.

Dark, twisted thoughts were whispered to her. The blackness of the shadows seemed to creep closer to her. A voice in her mind whispered ugly and untrue words to her. Was it in her mind? Was it the shadows?

She screwed her eyes shut in attempt to shut them out. They wanted something from her, but she didn't know what. What the hell did they want?

_(Woah) Hey call the angels_

_This razorblade was meant for me_

_(Woah) Hey call the angels_

_We'll mutilate insanity_

_She cuts a __vein__ although it's much dull _**(AN-the underlined was changed to my liking…it was more…fitting.)**

_I say she's all alone_

_Fighting for redemption_

_And I know a little pain, a little lust_

_I lose myself at night to feel the rush_

_Of tearing my skin apart_

_Now take this sadness and close your eyes, love_

_Pick up the blade, honey_, it cooed warmly. _It will make you feel better. It will solve all of your problems. Then, you can see Joey again.' _Joey was my brother. Note the "was". He died two years ago. He was drowned by one of the schools minions. I still missed him to this day.

_(Woah) Hey call the angels_

_This razorblade was meant for me_

_(Woah) Hey call the angels_

_We'll mutilate insanity_

A box cutter was lying precariously close to the edge of the edge of the nightstand. It looked so friendly. It was calling to her. She needed to pick it up. She need to.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that it was the shadows manipulating her, but she was too weak to fight it. Maybe she actually wanted it. Maybe not.

_(Woah) Hey call the angels_

_This razorblade was meant for me_

_(Woah) Hey call the angels_

_We'll mutilate insanity_

She snatched the blade from the nightstand, obeying the echoing voices that were ridiculing her mind.

She pressed the edge of the blade tightly against the skin of her upper arm. She had done this before, scars littered her arms. She was a pro.

She dragged the blade slowly against her skin. She could feel the tearing of the flesh beneath the sharp edge. The pain struck her hard, but her DNA had really held true. Avian-Human mixed breeds really did have a high tolerance for pain.

The shadows were praising, urging her to go lower, to the vital spot that could end it all. She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice how deep she was cutting. Or the sound of her door opened and the sharp intake of breath that followed.

'Quickly, now, child.' The voices whispered anxiously. 'Deeper, lower,' they droned as I speedily sliced open my arm.

I moved to cut my vein in my lower arm. This was the end.

_Go deeper_

_I feel it_

_I see your ghost appear_

Joey was standing in the middle of the room, smiling, laughing. "Cut, Jilly, cut for me. Deeper." She was willingly going to oblige. She wanted so bad to see him again. To apologize, to say goodbye, to tell him that she loved him.

_Go deeper_

_I see it_

_I feel you ghost appear_

_I will say goodbye tonight_

_We'll sleep forever_

_Hold on_

_Hold on tonight, love_

_We'll sleep forever_

_(x2)_

_Close your eyes_

A pale hand violently slapped the blade away before it ever touched my skin. The contact from the real world had snapped me back to reality. Joey faded away. I let out a strangled cry.

I looked up into emerald green eyes that were worried and scared.

Christian stood over me, yelling something. I couldn't hear. I couldn't speak. I couldn't even move. I all I could do was feel, feel the unbearable pain in my arm. It stung worse than the devil himself. I let out another loud cry.

"Christian," I whimpered, my voiced laced with pain. "It hurts, Christian."

My eyelids closed for a moment, taking inventory of my body.

Christian's hand were shaking me, screaming something. His voice was absolutely beautiful. I should tell him that sometime.

I tried in vain to catch his words. "Jillian! Can you hear me? Please, open your eyes. Please. _Please_. Jillian, please." His voice broke twice. I guess I wasn't lookin' too good.

I opened my mouth but no words came out. He put his strong arms underneath my legs and behind my back. He carried me to the bathroom. The music was still playing eerily in the background.

_(Woah) Hey call the angels_

_This razorblade was meant for me_

_(Woah) Hey call the angels we'll mutilate insanity._

I heard the various snaps of lids and kits opening. He was going to try to save me. It was going to be a dead effort though. I was going to die. I knew it. I felt it.

I smiled a sickly sweet smile before I whispered shakily, "Bye, Christian. It's…it's not your fault." Darkness took over me.

--

**4 Hours Later**

I woke up to a severe burning pain in my arm. I whimpered pathetically and opened my eyes groggily. Where was I?

Christian was lying next to me, eyes partially closed. He stirred lightly. "Jillian?"

"Hmmmmm?"

He sat up abruptly. "Holy shit. You're awake? You're really awake?" His green eyes were dazed, relieved.

I cleared my throat before replying snarkily. "I hope so…Well, this could be another one of your wet dreams."

His eyes went flat. "Well, we can see you're back to the same old, same old pissy Jillian." A frown was tugging the corner of his beautiful mouth down. I was regretful. He mistook it for annoyance,

He sighed. "Fine, I'll leave. _I'm sorry_. I just wanted make sure you were okay. _I won't do it again_." His tone was like a slap in the face. He stood gruffly, anger radiating out of his every pore.

She lifted a hand to stop him. Bad idea. A strangled cry was torn from her lips. The burning from her lower left arm shot up her entire arm to her shoulder. It hurt so bad, tears sprang into her eyes. And she never cried. She didn't even cry when she broke her arm in three places.

"Don't move," Christian hissed. "You'll rip your stitches."

"_Stitches_?" I echoed. I hated needles. Very, very much.

"You were knocked out. I figured that that was the best time to do it." He shrugged.

Then his eyes took on a more serious note. "Why did you do that Jillian? Why did you do that to me?" His eyes were sad, scared. My heart was breaking. Why did I have to go and hurt everyone? I was a monster. I was absolutely horrible. I was constantly hurting the people I loved. Even Christian. Wait?! Did I love Christian?

Christian was like family. We'd known each other since infancy. We'd met in The School, the most wretched place on Earth. Christian, Joey, Louis and I were Human-Avian hybrids. Otherwise known as mostly human, birdlike freaks. But, we got through it. Together.

It was always me, Christian, Joey, and Louis. Joey was my twin brother. He died. Louis, my fucking idiot of a cousin, left us to "find his purpose in life." Now, it was just me and Christian.

We were always best friends…until Joey died. Whenever Christian and I got into a fight, Joey would make us hash it out until we were on good terms. Joey, being my twin and Christian's other best friend, was always obeyed. Never in my life would I think of the possibly of him not being here with me.

Joey found us this great apartment up in Maine. It was discreet. It was big. It was hidden. Also, it was ours. The owners had abandoned it and no bills had come in the mail. No one knew we lived there.

Sure, Christian and I had our fights before, but our recent ones were explosive. Joey was like the vanilla ice cream holding the two chocolate pieces of the ice cream sandwich together in our relationship.

Christian and I hardly spoke anymore. Too many bad words flung, too many smiles wiped away, too many words unsaid, too many tears unshed. Basically, we missed him and we didn't know how to cope. Christian made me feel so insignificant. He was a Greek god and I was a simple peasant.

Christian was 6"2' and incredibly studly if I do say so myself. (Even if I didn't like him like that, which I kept telling myself I didn't, I couldn't deny his hotness.) He had jet black hair that swept lightly into his eyes, pale skin, (I was too, despite the fact that we were constantly in the sun. I think his parents were albino. I think one of mine was. I'm half.), sharp angular features, a sexy amount of muscle, and a smile that would make women _and_ men all around the world swoon.

But, what I liked most about him, were his eyes. He had emerald green eyes. They had dark green around the edges, but lighter green towards the middle. If I wasn't in love with him, I was definitely in love with his eyes.

I was…I'd guess you say jealous of him. He turned heads, man. I didn't.

I had dark mahogany colored hair, fair skin, pale, but not as pale as Christian's, stormy blue eyes, perfectly shaped pink lips—my best feature, and a shapely body. Well, my body would be shapely if I'd actually eat something. Let's just say I have a shapely _frame._

_(_Christian was always nagging me about it. I just wasn't hungry…_ever.)_

You see, we were miles out of each other's leagues. I was in the kiddie league and he was in the major league. It just wasn't far, was it?

I finally got over my thoughts and attempted to explain myself to Christan.

"It was them again," I said, trying not to let fear leak into my voice.

"The shadows?" he asked nervously.

I nodded numbly. You see, we both had unique powers. His were awesome and mine were life threatening. He could move things with his mind and feel people's emotions. I could see dead people. I really have shitty luck.

The shadows were high class spirits that could cloak their true identity. (Corny, I know.) The spirits weren't always good spirits. As you can see, they get me into a lot of trouble. I don't really know how to control my power yet. I can block them for a good portion of the time. But, when I slip, it tends to be bad. I guess they don't like to be ignored.

Christian was nodding to himself. "Okay. We have to see that psychic again. Where was she? I don't remember? Florida. Or was it LA?"

"I'm not going." We'd had this argument before. "Maybe next month. C'mon, I don't want to fight. Please, just drop it."

He gave me a hard stare before sighing noisily. "You have to learn how to control it, Jill. Each time it gets worse and worse. One of these times, I'm not going to sense your emotions in time and…" He let the possibility hang in the air. "You have got to stay strong. You can't let them control your mind. You remember what Jeb said?"

"Yeah. That asshole. 'Save the world, save your brother.' That's some bullshit. How did he even know that Joey was going to…?" I trailed off, unwilling to say the word that was going to seal his fate forever. "And what did he mean: save the world? What kind of crack is he smoking and why isn't he sharing? The world isn't in danger. The last Flyboys we saw were down in Tennessee. We've had no problems. We haven't even heard from in…what? Three months?"

Christian grunted in agreement. "Yeah. I his emotions were concealed and in control, I didn't sense him lying though. I think I would know if he was hiding something."

"Whatever, Superman," I scoffed playfully. He rolled his eyes.

"You know it, Batgirl." We smiled at each other. We'd made that up when we were little.

He patted my leg gently. "Come on, Lazybones. Get up, I'm making you breakfast and you're gonna eat it whether you like it or not." I shrugged, careful not to move my arm too much.

I slowly peeled myself out of the bed, watchful not to jar my arm. We walked into the kitchen. I tried my hardest not to notice the way our sides brushed when we walked. All too soon, we were in the kitchen. The kitchen was big—Joey loved to cook.

A rustling of the bushes outside made us slide into our fighting stances we'd learned over the years.

Christian pushed me behind him and silently made his way to the window. He peeked outside and froze. He took a step back. I shimmied my way over to him and peeked out too.

Oh, shit. Hundreds of Flyboys encased the house. Again, oh shit.

**HA! How did you like it? Review and tell me please!! I only got like 5 reviews last chapter!! I hauled ass to finish this chappie for you guys. I sat in the hotel room for 3 hours typing instead of going to dinner with my bestie Aurelia! She went with her boyfriend Damien. sigh C'mon, I think I deserve some reviews for my efficiency. VOTE IN MY POLL!! TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MY FANG PIC!! **

**So, are you curious? Who's this Jillian character? How the hell does this tie in to the story? What's going to happen between Max and Fang now that Max is starting to accept her feelings for him? And what about that bastard Jeb? How does he know Jillian and Christian? What's Jillian's secret that she can't be redeemed from? Will we ever find out? Does Jillian love Christian? Where's Louis? DOES TOTAL KNOW ABOUT MAX AND FANG'S SECRET?? Read to find out.**

**Ok, that's all.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Song: "Higher" by Creed.**

**Hey kiddies! What's up? Here's your chapter. I made it extra long. It's my longest so far. Over 4,000 words!! I've had this chapter done for almost 3 weeks. The reason why I didn't post it is because I didn't get ANY reviews. No pleading. No begging. No tears. Not even a simple request. C'mon guys! How am I supposed to know whether you like it or not? Review and let me know whether I should continue writing or not. REVIEW!! AND VOTE IN MY POLL!! Sorry, I'm being a bitch. So, here's some flufftastic stuff.**

--

Chapter 8

**JILLIAN POV**

Oh, lord. We were in some pretty deep shit.

With my whole left arm in searing pain and temporarily immobile and until I got over it, we were pretty much done for. Christian inched closer to me and whispered, "Houston, we have a problem."

"No shit, Sherlock," I shot back, somehow keeping my growing fear out of voice. This little panicked conversation was actually something more. The "Houston we have a problem" was code for something along the lines of: '_Form a plan. Make it quick. Anything said from here will be lingo and have double meaning so think outside of the box_.' Corny, yes very much so.

Yeah, I know, we had a lot of time on our hands.

My "No shit, Sherlock" response was also a double meaning. It was a snarky way of letting him know that I got what he was saying. If he said something like "Moonlight Masquerade" after his Houston comment, then I'd have to comply. But not before replying back a simple: "_Roger_" or "_No shit, Sherlock_" to let him know I'd understood. (Just to let you know, a Moonlight Masquerade is what we use to escape unseen. Literally. We'd use my power of invisibility to cloak us, and we'd slip off silently. I had a feeling that he'd be taking that route.)

"Niner, niner, dot, dot_, slash_." He was suggesting that we pretend to surrender and then attack. He's so _dense_ sometimes. I just didn't get it. Was it a guy thing?

"No _shit_, Sherlock," I said, emphasizing the shit part. "Desperado or Moonlight Masquerade," I mumbled to him. Desperado was a plan to run like crazy, and just when you couldn't take it anymore or they were getting too close, you'd take off into the air.

"No shit, Sherlock, Moonlight Masquerade," he said. "Parle on five." He'd said that he was giving up and we'd be doing the Moonlight Masquerade game plan. We had 5 seconds until showtime. You were supposed to count in your head to 5, then say "one" out loud and shoot up into the air.

"One!" We both shouted. We launched ourselves into the air. We had maybe a 4 second advantage before the Flyboys caught on to the fact that we had already attempted our escape. I always loved the confused look on their face when we started to chatter almost companionably to ourselves in the middle of a crisis. Little did they know…

My purple and black wings unfurled and I breathed a sigh of relief despite my current situation. Flying was freedom. It was what I lived for. I looked over at Christian and saw the same recognition in his face.

"Maine!" he suddenly hooted. "Maine is where the psychic is! I remember now. We're going," he said matter-of-factly.

I shrugged. "What ever you say, Crazylegs. What was with the Niner-Niner plan? What's wrong with you, boy? My plan was obviously superior. They might be able to catch us on land, but they can't catch in the air!" I sped up and let out a breathless chuckle as the air was stripped from my lungs. I heard Christian laughing from behind me. I could feel his eyes on my back.

We had no worries about the Flyboys catching us. Both of us could fly over 100 miles per hour. It was great.

We zoomed through the sky. We were off to Maine, I guessed. To see the psychic. Yay to us for not getting our asses beaten down by Flyboys.

--

**A/N: You guys can thank maximumluver for this. She/He --(IDK if they're a boy or girl. I would guess girl, but I don't want to piss them off if they're a guy.) pointed out that there wasn't enough fax in the last chapter. I'm making doubly sure that I have lots in here. Also, if you guys have any questions on the whole Jillian/Christian situation, feel free to review or PM me to ask. I didn't really make their relevance clear yet. P.S.-It's okay if you got confused with all that slang and stuff. It's not **_**too**_** important right now. Keep reading. **

--

**MAX POV**

By the time Fang took his shower, everyone had woken up. I steered clear of him the entire morning. Well, early morning. It was still morning. It was breakfast time.

Iggy was downstairs making god knows what for breakfast because we had assumed that the owners of the cabin had food still stocked. We assumed wrong. So, Iggy was stuck trying to fix something edible. Everyone in the house was up and at the breakfast table except for Gazzy. (and of course, me. But at least I was awake!)

Recently, Gazzy was being weird. I guess he's going through an early puberty or something because he's verging on unbearable. He sleeps all day, he eats everything (Even with our inhuman appetites, he still eats a shocking amount compared to us.), and is developing authority issues. I chose today to confront him. Anything to escape Fang.

I banged on the door to Iggy and Gazzy's room. "Gazzy," I called. "Hey, Gasman, time to get up." I made my voice sweet and just loud enough to wake him up.

I heard movement from behind the door then silence again. The little punk probably rolled over and went back to sleep. "C'mon Gaz, let's go!" My voice was edging on irritation. "Up, up, up! Please, don't ignore me Gazzy." My voice was a bit too soft for my liking.

Lately, he hadn't been following my orders, despite how trivial they were. Experiencing this was like a slap in the face. I was losing control of him. "I'm telling you to get up!" Oops. My words had a little too much steel in them this time.

"Fuck you! Shut the hell up! God, you're such a friggin' bitch, Max. Go away. You've never done anything good for any of us! If you loved is, you'd leave us alone and let us find our parents! But, no, you're just selfish!"

I stumbled backwards, the words causing me both physical and mental pain. The words hurt me more than if he'd struck me.

The words "selfish" echoed helplessly in my mind. Was I being selfish? Did they really still want to find their parents? Tears welled up in my eyes. I clutched at my chest.

He didn't…need me anymore. He didn't…_love_ me anymore. I was no longer his leader or his friend. He wouldn't follow me blindly anymore. He didn't want me as his guardian anymore. I couldn't quite grasp the concept.

"I'm…I…," I whispered at the still closed door, a tear spilling over my cheek. "I'm so—I mean—I didn't…" I tried to keep it together. I was so_ weak_. I didn't cry. Maximum Ride didn't cry. Maybe I wasn't the same old Max...maybe I was the one that changed?

This was one of my biggest fears, that no one would need me anymore. That once all of the Erasers and scientists, and Flyboys were gone, the Flock wouldn't need me.

A tanned fist slammed into the door. I jumped about a mile and a half. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and tried to appear as if what he said didn't affect me. "_Gazzy get the fuck up! I'm dead fucking serious! Get your puny ass up and out of that damn room or I swear I will make you wish you were never born!" _Fang's deep voice flowed through me, comforting me. I didn't know how it did; I just knew that it did.

I felt his gaze burning a hole in my face that was turned to the side to hide the potential wetness in my eyes. I kept me face slanted away from him and my eyes averted. I was sure that my eyes were red and my face was slightly puffy from that one little tear that I had cried. I'm not even joking. That one tiny little tear could potentially give me away to crying.

We heard bustling behind the door. The door opened suddenly and out came a slightly frightened looking Gazzy. Before I could register much of anything else, Fang grabbed him and threw him against the wall.

"Why the hell would you say those things?" he bit out. Fang was pissed. That was very scary…and I'll admit, very sexy.

Gazzy rubbed his now injured shoulder carefully. Fang continued, looking over at me and into my eyes. "How can you say that? What's your problem? Max has done nothing but help us all. She's saved our lives more times than we can count. I don't know what I'd do without her." His eyes wavered for a millisecond when he came to the end of his sentence. He got this far off look. He came back instantly though and the effect was not ruined.

I felt a smile spreading over my lips and warmth replacing that ugly, hollow feeling that had invaded at Gazzy's harsh words.

He smiled a small smile back, nodding his head almost imperceptibly. His dark locks fell into his eyes and his dark orbs pierced mine.

This was the Fang I knew, the Fang I loved. I could say it with conviction now. I loved Fang. I absolutely _loved_ Fang. He made me feel all warm and squidgy inside. I could only melt at his sincere words and intense, soul-piercing gaze that always seemed to read me so well.

Gazzy made some gagging noises in the background. "Fang, you shut the hell up. You're just being nice because you want Max to love you the way you love her." I blushed at this comment. No way, I said to myself. Sure, I loved Fang, but no way did he love me. That was impossible. So what if he's tried to kiss me 3 times? "So stop giving me your crap and leave me alone. You're becoming just like Max." Fang tore his gaze from mine.

"Gazzy, remember what we talked about? You were not to use that language. You're only like 11. You're not even a teenager yet! Where do you get off thinking your shit doesn't stink? I may not be your parent, but I am sure as hell the one that has to deal with you."

This was the most I'd heard Fang talk in probably 4 months, so I considered that what he had to say was pretty important. I guessed that Gazzy got this idea too. The regular one-word sentence Fang was probably going to come back with a vengeance. I inwardly grimaced at the probability.

I snapped myself out of my mind and focused on the conversation at hand about our unruly, out of line Gazzy. "…stop. If I hear you swear at any of us, I will come after you." Gazzy nodded, and started to walk away when Fang called. "Oh and Gazzy boy!" He turned.

"Apologize to Max. Now."

"Sorry, Max. I didn't really mean it." His voice was honest and filled with guilt, yet I couldn't drop the words out of my head. I feared that they would play over and over again for the rest of my life.

I nodded. I honestly didn't know what happened to the sweet little boy that used to be my Gazzy. He was changing. Into what, I didn't know.

I started to walk away when a finger snagged my belt loop. I turned to meet Fang's smoldering gaze. A warm hand wrapped around my waist, preventing me from bolting.

"Talk." Great, we were back to one word Fang. You see, what did I tell you?

I _really_ didn't want to do this right now. I hadn't decided what to say and I was just simply scared. Plus, even if I did already know what to say, I definitely would have forgotten by now. What with his liquid chocolate brown eyes melting me from inside out, oh boy was I a goner.

I opened my mouth to tell him that I was hopelessly in love with him—okay, maybe just to tell him that I didn't have an answer yet—when I was cut off.

"MAX! FANG! GET YOUR BUTTS IN HERE! BREAKFAST IS GETTING COLD AND GAZZY'S EATING ALL THE FOOD!"

Nudge, my dear, dear Nudge. Well, at least she puts her loud mouth to use.

Fang held me captive for a few moments before releasing me. I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding. I walked back to the kitchen, trying my hardest not to look back at him.

Breakfast was tense. Everyone had been informed by Angel (in their minds) of what Gazzy had said. Well, everyone except for Iggy, that is, but, I was sure he was going to find out soon. Nudge and Angel were shooting Gazzy icy dagger glares, and me warm, loving looks. It was…it was…_quite strange_, really. Fang had his head down, eyes averted to his plate. He looked like he was nervous. Why, I had no idea. But knowing something was bothering him was more like my sixth sense. He was in guarded Fang mode. I didn't have to see his eyes to know that they were monotone and empty, like only his could be. He was obviously taking the Fang approach. The silence was becoming increasingly unbearable.

I cleared my throat lightly. Everyone looked up. "So, I suppose we should scope out the town today, right?" Everyone nodded and went back to eating. I stared at my plate as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. The room seemed to ripple for a second.

Suddenly, I wasn't feeling too good. My head was aching, my stomach was rolling violently, and my tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth. Uh-oh, this was bad poopy. I tried to break out of my trance fixed on my plate, but I couldn't. I tried to say something, but I couldn't open my mouth.

The plate warped into something horrible, a grave. On it, it read: '_Here lies Maximum Ride. Greatly loved, greatly cherished, and forever in our hearts. We never got to tell you how much we loved you. You will never be forgotten.' _My eyes widened to the size of golf balls and I choked violently on my own spit. What the hell was this? My grave? But when did I die?!

'_Maximum, Maximum, Maximum,_' the Voice said disapprovingly in my head. _'So slow. Well, I guess it can't be helped.'_

'_Why is this happening? What is this?_ _What the hell do you want, Voice? Get out of my head!_'

I got the mental image of an random mouth smiling maliciously at me. '_I'd prefer if you called me…Shane_.'

**A/N: CLIFFIE! Just kidding. I figure if this is gonna be a few weeks late, than it's not gonna be a dollar short! Haha. I kill me. Right about now you wanna kill me too, don't you? Here, have some story. **

(continued)

'_I don't give a shit what you_ prefer.'

'_Well, Maximum, how about I give you a taste of why you inhabit that grave.'_

Bullshit. That's what I was about to say to him when unbearable pain laced through my veins and the air was stripped from my lungs.

I tried to scream again, but it just came out as whimpering. I felt my hands clutch at my head and latch onto my hair. I tried to stop the pain in my head that was keeping me on the border of consciousness and oblivion. For once in my life, I prayed to go back to reality. It was a seriously scary feeling.

A voice was heard over the pain. '_Say my name, Maximum. Say it_.' I refused to give in and the pain was amplified. I tried to fight it with my will.

'_SHANE! SHANE, SHANE, SHANE, SHANE_!!' I screamed over and over in my head. I wanted this to be over. I wanted to die or I wanted it to stop. I was wishing for death when suddenly the pain was gone.

My eyes were beginning to focus through the blurriness. I could see where I was currently again instead of my grassy future grave. One last phrase drifted into my mind from…Shane.

'_The darkest hour is when the sun burns the sky.'_

I blinked tears from my eyes and took a deep shuddering breath. I looked up to see Iggy towering over me. His sightless eyes held concern and worry. "Max? Max, are you back?" Someone squeezed my hands.

I looked down to see one large tanned hand engulfing mine and another, smaller, paler hand clutching at mine desperately. Angel and Fang. Nudge was sitting next to Angel looking equally as worried. I didn't even want to meet Fang's eyes for fear of what was reflecting there, or even worse, what wasn't. I nodded to Iggy and cleared my throat.

"I'm sorry, guys. I don't know what happened. I just…I don't want to talk about it right now." I could feel everyone giving me sympathetic looks. Well, everyone except Iggy, for obvious reasons, and Total, who was still out cold in the background. (Maybe we should check if he was alright? He could be dead. Should we? Nah.) A figure moved in the shadows.

Gazzy stood in the doorway looking guilty as ever. He looked like a boy who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He was only 10 or 11 or whatever so he was still considered a boy, right?

"So, how bad was I?" I asked feigning nonchalance. Nudge took this as her queue to launch into speaking mode.

"Oh, Max, Max, Max. It was horrible. I was so scared! Your face got extremely pale and you were starting to hyperventilate. I mean, one minute you were sitting there, the next you were panting and trembling. And your eyes, Max. They didn't look right. You had this far off expression on your face and this unblinking stare fixed on your food. We assumed you were just having like a panic attack or something until you started whimpering and, um, grabbing at your head. We asked you what was wrong but you didn't even acknowledge our presence." She paused a moment, out of breath.

She gulped in a big gust of air before continuing with Angel sitting there nodding at me. "You looked positively dreadful. So, um, Fang scooped you up and carried you here into your bedroom and put you on top of it. Then you stared thrashing around and stuff, tears streaming from your face. And then, then, um, you started to scream a name. What was it? Oh. Shane. And then you woke up so to speak. It was pretty bad, Max."

I winced occasionally at the picture she broadcasted. Also, at the fact that Fang carried me, but that wasn't important right this second. I must've looked like hell. I must still look like hell.

When she finished, I looked around the room for assurance. I saw Fang nod from the corner of my eye and reluctantly turned. "Are you okay? What happened to you back there? Are you still up to going to the town?" His thumb was tracing circles into the back of my hand, which I have to say was very distracting.

"Yeah," I managed to squeak out. I expected his eyes to be bored and emotionless, but it was just the opposite. His eyes were so intense that it made me double take. Fang intense? No way.

Damn, this boy was so unpredictable.

(1 Hour Later)

**MAX POV**

I strolled out into the afternoon sun. It was warm against my skin. I stood in the woods, soaking in the trees, the sky, and, well more trees. What else do you expect in the woods?

To the right, I spotted this gigantic gnarled tree. It had my name written all over it. I walked over to it and planted myself on one of its strong, smooth branches that was pretty high up. Heights didn't really bother me. I think you know why.

I was just about dozing off when someone called my name. "Max," the musical voice said quietly.

I lifted my head. Fang stood at the bottom of the tree. "It's just about time to go." I nodded and climbed down easily.

When I reached the ground I unfurled my wings and a sigh of satisfaction slip past my lips. I couldn't wait to start flying. I was about to take to the sky when Fang's hand shot out and stopped me.

"Wait. We need to talk." His eyes were monotone and his voice was serious.

I let out a nervous laugh and acted stupid. "Ha. I—I have no clue what you're talking about, Fang." But I did know what I was talking about. The kiss that changed my feelings for him from brotherly to lover. The memory of it heated my skin and made it tingle.

I looked for a way to escape. It's not like I hadn't thought about it but I still hadn't found the words to say to him. Sorry, almost dying can do that to you.

Seeing the frantic look in my eye, Fang took a step forward and unfurled his giant, black wings threateningly. His look said, 'Try to get away. I dare you.' This was one dare I didn't want to try. I mean, I knew Fang would never really hurt me. But still his wing span was damn intimidating. He had grown a few more inches, so he was pushing six feet now. I was still same old, same old 5 feet 6 ¾ inches.

When I didn't say anything, he narrowed his eyes and walked towards me until our Converses were touching. I backed up. Each step back I took, he took too. Soon, I felt my back pressed into a tree.

Fang slammed his arm against the tree and above my head. He kept it there as he leaned down close to my face. Our chests were touching and pleasure zinged through me. I could smell his clean, fresh scent. It was addicting.

His wings wrapped protectively around us, sending us into our own little world. I could feel his strength, see his muscles, yet it was oddly heart warming to know that he respected me and wasn't using his enormous strength to get his answer from me. Instead, he was standing there so close looking fiercely sexy, waiting for me to give it on my own free will. This was temptation itself.

My body was reacting. My heart was fluttering curiously and my breath was slightly uneven. My back was arched against his chest and my eyes were half closed. My skin was ultra sensitive. I had a coherent thought in the back of my head, I did, really. But it got all jumbled up as soon as I felt his hand on my hip, tracing designs and patterns. I had never felt this way before.

Well, I guess it wasn't really a surprise then. What I did next, I mean.

"Max," he whispered quietly. He trailed the hand that wasn't resting on my hip and driving me insane down my cheek.

It was like my mind suddenly went: Okay, that's it! Because the next thing I did was lunge forward and kiss him. I expected him to pull back and push me away. But instead, he matched my passion. I shut my eyes and went with it.

His hand cupped my face and dragged me closer. His lips were assaulting mine. When we broke apart to breathe, he peppered kisses on my lips, cheeks, forehead, eyelids, jaw, neck. "Is this a yes? Am I accepted?" He sounded, hopeful.

"Yes," I said breathlessly, "Yes." Before I could blink, I was pressed into the tree and Fang was kissing my hair.

"Max. You don't know how long I've been waiting for this," he said quietly. I wasn't even sure if I was supposed to hear.

His simple statement made my heart skip a beat. I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my head against his solid chest. I hid my smile in his chest. Happy didn't even cover what I felt just now.

I don't know. Was I relieved? Was I pleased? Was I thankful? Yeah. I was. I didn't have a clue as to why I felt this but, it felt like half of my soul was being stitched back. I felt whole.

I nuzzled my face into his chest. We made out for a little while before breaking apart to breathe.

"We should, GASP, be, GASP, getting back, GASP, now." I was gasping for air if you couldn't tell. That boy had a set of lungs on him. Why didn't he join the swim team? He could hold his breath long enough for the both of us.

But, it still made me feel good to hear that all was not normal in his world. "PANT, uh, PANT, yeah okay, PANT." It was strange how one moment I could dismiss him as a brother and the next all my eyes could see was him. My feelings transformed soo fast that I was kinda afraid of them. I had never felt this way before. I just hoped Fang felt the same.

I practically jogged away from him, needing to put space between us, to make the lightning stop arcing between us and setting us on fire. Fang caught up to me in a flash. I slowed to a walk, having calmed down some. Plus, some of the energy—if you know what I mean—had dissipated with the exercise. I made a mental note on that. Fang caught my hand and we walked to the cabin together.

There was a note on the door in red pen.

'_Dear Max and Fang_,

We've been kidnapped.' I gasped and Fang snatched the paper from me. His eyes scanned the paper. "Mother fuckers," he ground out. **(A/N: Ooh, Fang, you stud, what a bad word I made you say. Stay sexy, baby. Stay sexy.) **He gave the paper back to me.

"Keep reading," he growled.

I did.

I continued:

'_SORRY_!' a different style of hand writing appeared. It was in purple crayon. '_That_ _was Gazzy. Anyways, we left. For the mall, I mean. Yeah. You guys, can, um. Yeah, meet us there. We'll be chillin' by the enterance__._' I had to smile to myself. Nudge wrote the way she spoke. It was funny, in a sad kind of way. We could scratch author off the list. And, she couldn't seem to spell for shit. Hence the last word being mutilated violently.

"Let's go." I turned to Fang. His face was impassable. I hated this side of him. I hated to see his eyes look empty, like a part of him was locked inside. He looked like he could fade into the shadows.

I picked up my hand and cupped his cheek before kissing him hotly. WHAT?! Don't look at me like that. I couldn't help it. Not with the sharp angles of his face and his soft lips and hard eyes and…I'll stop.

Fang leaned into and started to get into it. I pulled back a fraction and blew my breath into his face before nipping his ear. I felt him shudder. I was be _daring_.

"You want more; you can try to come get more." And with that I shot up into the sky. I turned my head and looked down; expecting to see him still on land when warm lips met mine. I gasped into his open mouth and he moaned. He broke away.

"You're trying to kill me." He smiled. "You probably could too."

He launched at me and I sped up, taping into my super speed. Flying was my abandon, my freedom. It was distracting me from Fang. At least for a little while. Oh, and by the way, kissing while flying is really good. If you ever get the chance, you should try it.

"Max," Fang whined, trying to catch up to me. I had been keeping a few feet in between us when I burst out laughing. Not like little giggles or whatever. Full bust. Your. Gut. All. Out. LAUGHING.

He started to ask what and then his eyes widened. He had this look of: _Did I just do that_?

"I've never heard you whine before, Fang," I said between giggles. I didn't even realize that I was slowing down until I smashed into him. It sent us flying backwards a little bit. This got him laughing too.

We squabbled about the "whining" topic for the remaining time. We arrived at the mall all too soon.

We broke apart and away from each other when we saw the rest of the Flock waiting there. We both were silently agreeing on not telling the Flock until later. Much later. We didn't want them interfering.

We both landed at the same time. Angel came running up to me. "Max!" she screeched. I winced as my ear drums ruptured.

"Hey guys," I said causally. "Let's go."

Nudge read the sign out loud as she passed. "Millinocket Mall. Home of the Peter the Pear. Welcome!"

It dawned on me then. Oh yeah. We were in Maine. No wonder it was so woodsy. Okay then. Cool. A feeling of importance itched at me but I flicked it off. Why would being in Maine be important?

--

**I know. I know. I'm so cruel. I just figured you guys would want the chapter sooner. When I update depends on how many reviews I get. I'm starting a few new stories. Check them out on my profile. You may like some of them…**

**Will the Flock meet Jillian and Christian? Will the Flock found out about Max and Fang? What the hell is up with Gazzy? Who really is Shane? Are Jillian's and Christian's affections brotherly or loverly? (LOL. Sorry, I had to do that.) What are Jillian's and Christian's powers? Ad how the hell do they tie into the story?! Keep reading to find out.**


End file.
